Ann Arbor grapples with parking garage safety after spate of deaths

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ANN ARBOR, MI - There was one homicide in the city of Ann Arbor between November 2015 and December 2016. During the same period, three people died and two were seriously injured for another reason - they jumped or fell from parking structures in the city.

None of Ann Arbor's more than 20 parking garages have fencing or rails high enough to prevent someone from falling or jumping off them. Some of the garages are eight stories tall.

"We are very aware. It is an industry concern. It's a public health concern," said Ann Arbor Downtown Development Director Susan Pollay.

The DDA has control over city-owned parking, which includes seven garages. Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Republic Parking operates the garages for the city. Other parking structures are owned by the University of Michigan and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System.

After months of discussion, the DDA plans to install signs this spring in city-owned parking structures that include crisis hotline phone numbers.

The city also hopes to get rooftop safety fencing up this summer or fall on the city owned parking structures, Pollay said, a project that will cost $400,000. The funding has not been approved and the DDA board will likely vote on the project when it is sent out for a bid, Pollay said.

The fencing plan isn't a perfect solution, she admits, since someone could still jump from a lower level.

The city's efforts to improve safety also won't apply to parking structures at the University of Michigan or the university's hospital. While UM police patrol university garages and respond to attempted suicides, the university has no plans to install signs or fencing on the garages, an official there said.

The city of Grand Rapids installed fencing at several downtown parking ramps in 2014 and 2015 to prevent people from falling or jumping.The Grand Rapids Press file

Improving Safety

Other cities in recent years have taken a variety of actions in an effort to improve parking-structure safety.

The city installed the fencing downtown in 2014-15 in response to at least three suicides from parking structures in the previous six years, The Grand Rapids Press reported.

Lincoln, Nebraska, installed about 250 suicide prevention signs at 12 city and five University of Nebraska-Lincoln parking structures in July 2016. The push for the signs came after a university cheerleader fell from a garage and died, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

Bel Air, Maryland, installed signs and motion sensors that activate when the garage is closed in an effort to prevent suicides after three people died by jumping off a six-story garage in the past two years, the Baltimore Sun reported. Officials are considering installing fencing as an additional preventative measure.

In Ann Arbor, safety currently is up to police and the employees who maintain parking structures.

Republic Parking has zero tolerance for loitering in its parking garages, Pollay said. Employees receive training to recognize when someone needs help and intervene.

If someone is on the roof not being active, she said, employees will go up to them and engage in a friendly way.

Ann Arbor Police Department Public Information Officer Renee Bush said police officers go through a variety of training to help people who are in distress and considering suicide to deescalate the situation.

"We take this very seriously," she said.

University of Michigan Division of Public Safety and Security officers also routinely patrol the university's structures, said UM spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen.

Officers are trained to handle suicide attempts, she said.

The university is always exploring best practices, Broekhuizen said, but right now, there are no plans to install signs or fencing on parking structures.

Fatalities, injuries continue

Since late 2015, five people were killed or injured at parking structures in the city. All of them were in their teens to mid-30s.

On Nov. 22, 2015, a woman in her mid-30s died by jumping from the top of the Ann-Ashley parking garage at 220 N. Ashley St.

On Nov. 8, an Ann Arbor high schooler died after falling from a parking garage at 300 S. Thayer St. Police said the fall was accidental.

The most recent data available from the Washtenaw County Medical Examiner shows there was one suicide death by jumping in 2015, none in 2014, two in 2013, one in 2012, none in 2011 and two in 2010.

The parking structure at South State and East Washington streets in downtown Ann Arbor, where police investigated a death on Sept. 27, 2016.The Ann Arbor News file

Nationwide, there were 42,773 deaths by suicide in 2014. Two percent of them were jumps or falls, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of those were in transportation areas such as railways, bridges or parking garages.

A group called The International Parking Institute released an 11-page report about parking garage suicides in 2016. The study found parking garages are attractive for people who are suicidal because of the accessibility, low cost and perceived certainty of completion. Most suicides from the structures were when the facilities were open to the public with patrols in the area.

Parking garages cater toward a young person's natural tendency toward impulsiveness, said Brian Todorow, clinical director of the Ozone House in Ann Arbor. The The Ozone House offers counseling and help for youths in the community.

To a young person, Todorow said, a parking structure seems free of barriers.

An industry concern

Ann Arbor DDA officials looked at national reports and did research about the best methods to reduce suicides and attempts from parking garages, Pollay said.

Law enforcement intervention was the most effective means of preventing suicides from the top of parking structures, making up 64 percent of successful interventions, the parking study stated. Parking staff was the second most-effective factor in prevention at 29 percent of those attempting suicide.

The International Parking Institute found warning signs are not particularly effective. There are other means of making parking decks less attractive to someone considering suicide, such as small-gauge fencing and adding screens and landscaping to prevent people from seeing the ground below.

Reducing the stigma and making it normal for people to talk about why they are considering suicide, what's not OK in their lives and how to get help are essential in reducing the number of suicides, she said.

Those experiencing thoughts of suicide can get help from:

The 24-hour National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Military veterans press #1

The Ozone House, a 24-hour hotline for youths, at 734-662-2222

The 24-hour hotline at University of Michigan Psychiatric Emergency Services at 734-936-5900

The Washtenaw County Community Mental Health crisis team at 734-544-3050